Book: Worship in an Age of Anxiety

 

This week, I'm wrapping up reading J. Michael Jordan's Worship in an Age of Anxiety. This isn't an assigned review, but a book I've had on hand for a month or two and wanted to read for personal growth.

It's part of a series from IVP called on the Dynamics of Christian Worship. There are six entries in the series, this being the most recent. Jordan is a Wesleyan Pastor and the Dean of the Chapel at Houghton College. That makes his primary work with college-age students, though he also works pastorally with his church and the community he lives in.

The "age of anxiety" reference in the title launches from W. H. Auden's poem "The Age of Anxiety," which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Auden's poem is worth reading; it deals with seeking meaning in the industrialized world. However, we're not going to look at the poem here. I'm not great with poetry reviews--my high school English grades show that to be very true.

Instead, I want to point you to this book. Jordan opens with a good description and discussion of what anxiety looks like. As well as any other book I've read that tries to bridge the gap between the more academic concepts of mental health and the popular level of mental health discussions (without dipping into the social media definitions which are almost always wrong), he provides an overview of what "anxiety" is in contrast to "worry" or "stress." The intro chapters alone were worth the time.

From there, we are treated to an examination of the deliberate uses of 'anxiety' in evangelical worship through the past couple of centuries. This includes reflecting on the practices of revivalists in the 19th century. Jordan does not pass judgment on those methods, but simply notes their usage.

Jordan then presents some basics of how anxiety can dreep into the methods and understandings of worship planning now. He suggests that evangelical circles would benefit from the grounding of historic liturgical practices, though noting the need to ensure they are presented in a way congruent with the theology that evangelicals embrace. 

In all, I'm finding this read a good challenge in how we think about worship and the value of alleviating the anxiety that comes in the door, rather than simply acting as if it does not exist.

Which is, I think, the bigger and more useful lesson here: do not ignore the reality of the people who have come to worship. Folks come in with anxieties, even as they are more current-era anxieties that rise higher on the classic "hierarchy of needs" than food and shelter. These anxieties are more nebulous and, therefore, harder to both measure and address. They are not any less real, though.

And drawing near to God in honest, church-wide worship must not ignore them, even as it is the keystone in helping to address them.